Abstract
The electrokinetic properties of the rumen microbiota are involved in cell surface adhesion and microbial metabolism. An in vitro study was carried out in batch culture to determine the effects of three levels of special surface area (SSA) of biomaterials and four levels of surface tension (ST) of culture medium on electrokinetic properties (Zeta potential, ξ; electrokinetic mobility, μe), fermentation parameters (volatile fatty acids, VFAs), and ST over fermentation processes (ST-a, γ). The obtained results were combined with previously published data (digestibility, D; pH; concentration of ammonia nitrogen, c(NH3-N)) to establish a predictive artificial neural network (ANN) model. Concepts of dual-time series analysis, perturbation theory (PT), and Box-Jenkins Operators were applied for the first time to develop an ANN model to predict the variations of the electrokinetic properties of microbiota. The best dual-time series Radial Basis Functions (RBR) model for ξ of rumen microbiota predicted ξ for >30,000 cases with a correlation coefficient >0.8. This model provided insight into the correlations between electrokinetic property (zeta potential) of rumen microbiota and the perturbations of physical factors (specific surface area and surface tension) of media, digestibility of substrate, and their metabolites (NH3-N, VFAs) in relation to environmental factors.
Highlights
The rumen environment is characterized by a resident microbial population that rapidly colonizes and digests feed particles, thereby providing fermentation end products that are utilized by the host animal (Paracer and Ahmadjian, 2000)
The surface tension (ST) of rumen fluid could be decreased by adding a non-ionic surfactant, and a moderate decrease of ST could increase the permeability of the microbial membrane, which was noted in the present study
The previous work had proved that the inclusion of a non-ionic surfactant in the culture media resulted in a significant increase in the production of extracellular celluloses and β-xylosidase in vitro production (Long and Knapp, 1991)
Summary
The rumen environment is characterized by a resident microbial population that rapidly colonizes and digests feed particles, thereby providing fermentation end products that are utilized by the host animal (Paracer and Ahmadjian, 2000). The specific surface area (SSA) of feed materials contributes to the biological processes of catalysis, adhesion, and digestion for microbes (Christensen et al, 1985; Shida et al, 2013; Yoda et al, 2014) as a vital factor of interface property (Garzón and Sánchez-Soto, 2015). Electrokinetic properties, such as zeta potential (ξ) and electrophoretic mobility (μe), are highly relevant to this biological process (de Wouters et al, 2015). The relationship between ξ and μe can be expressed as Henry equation (Hunter, 1981; Kaszuba et al, 2010) presented as Equation (1)
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